


In Bloom

by BonusBlankets



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bubbline Is Main Pairing, F/F, Gets Really Gay At Some Point, INDEFINITE HIATUS, Slow updates because I’m incompetent, tags are confusing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-02-18 03:38:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13091631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BonusBlankets/pseuds/BonusBlankets
Summary: Marceline Abadeer is the new student at Maple Hill High School. She thought it would be just like every other high school she’s been to and would spend most of her time alone. The plan was going well. Until she met Bonnibel at least."Stop calling me out,We're never going to put the pieces back together if you won't let me get better.And stop digging it up,Or we're never gonna see it all in bloom." - Neck Deep





	1. Motion Sickness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Don't stop now  
> Though the motion sickness has you spinning out  
> Cause you're on your way  
> Oh, my friend, just look how far you've come and  
> Think twice before you go and throw it all away" - Neck Deep

Many say that your first time for most things should be magical and exciting like a first date or your first day at school, things like that. But first times evolve into second times, second times into third times and so on until we die. We grow tired of it eventually. Though some first times can turn out to be terrible no matter how hard we try to avoid that outcome. Terrible first times can cause us to stay away from whatever that first time may have been until someone pushes us to experience again. Sometimes we want that push from that someone.

Marceline Abadeer’s father, Hunson, had moved his family to the quaint town of Maple Hill, Oregon on the 22nd of August, a week before his children started at the local high school. It was the third time they had moved during their high school years. Hunson had told her and her twin brother, Marshall, that they’d be staying with Simon Petrikov who happened to teach every science subject at the high school they’d be going to. Their house was numbered 31 and was located in Winterport Avenue. Simon had noted that it was only a five minute drive when traffic wasn’t bad. Hunson lived in a different house closer to his workplace.

With the free week, Marceline used the time to explore the town, already finding comfort in the local café that was strangely named The Candy Kingdom considering it wasn’t a candy store. It didn’t seem to matter though, as long as they accommodated Marceline’s love of coffee, she couldn’t care less.

She also found the local arcade quite nice. The building itself was small and quite empty most of the time, but Marceline never found crowds quite pleasing. The arcade was named Lumpy Space, décor following an obvious space theme to match the name. The games that could be played were mostly classics with the addition of some titles she’d never heard of before.

Other places that were explored was the local book store called The Treehouse with the interior having a wooden and rustic design to it and the music store called Don’t Fret which was an obvious pun about any intrument with frets. Marceline bought some plectrums from the latter store. Every other store looked boring to her so she didn’t bother with them and didn’t ever plan on it either.

**~August 29th, 2016~**

Marceline had finished her third cup of coffee by the time her car was parked in front of the fourth and hopefully last high school she attended. First days were never pleasant. Marshall was already out of the car and gone. _Off to flirt with someone, I bet_. Marceline wanted to mentally prepare herself so she stayed in the car with plenty of time before the bell for her first class rang. _Don’t get too close to anyone, Marceline, it wouldn’t end well, it never ends well. They’ll either die or leave_. She exhaled a sigh, finally getting out of her car.

Marceline stuck out like a sore thumb and she new it. She was way taller than most other people there and the clothes she decided to wear didn’t help either. She was like a tower of black with her black leather jacket, black skinny jeans, mainly black band t-shirt underneath her jacket and jet black hair. The only things that weren’t basically jet black were her green eyes and her pale skin. Plus, she was one half of the new students in her year, no one was familiar with her so it would only be normal that people would be curious about her.

Remembering she had to go to the principal’s office on her first day, she did so. The second she entered the reception area of the offices, Marceline met the receptionist. The conversation was short - just how she liked it. Sauntering into the ‘Big Man’s’ room, she noticed that once of the two chairs in front of the desk was occupied by a blonde who was...wearing a lot of pink. Marceline wanted to scoff until she sat down and actually saw the blonde’s face. She was pretty, like really really pretty, but what was someone like her doing in the principal’s office? Was she in trouble? No, she couldn’t have been on the first day back.

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone clearing their throat. The principal, right...almost forgot about that. “Miss Abadeer,” started the principal Marceline wasn’t bothered to learn the name of, “it’s my pleasure to invite you to Maple Hill High School. I hope you will do well here and not cause any trouble like you did in your previous schools.” _Shit, he knows about that? Smart guy, I hate it_. The principal nodded to the desk in front of him, on it was an envelope. “In there is your timetable and student ID.” Marceline wanted to say something about the whole student ID thing, but stopped herself once she remembered where she was. _Stay quiet now, start fucking up later_. She took the envelope after a small nod and stuffed into the right pocket of her jacket. “I have assigned the student council president, Miss Butler here,” he gave a quick nod to the blonde beside her, “to show you around the school this week.” _No thanks_. Marceline gave another nod and stood up, ‘Miss Butler’ following suit.

The two were out in the hall when the blonde began introducing herself. “Hi, my name’s Bonnibel! I’ll be showing you to your classes this week, do you mind showing me your timetable?” Marceline took her timetable out of the envelope in her pocket, albeit reluctantly. “Marceline,” she said, stating her name. _Don’t make friends, just get through these two years and be done with it_. “Nice to meet you, Marceline.” Bonnibel gave a smile and a small part of Marceline wanted to do the same, she was never faced with so much cheer before, it was almost annoying yet contagious. “So,” the other went on, “we have most of our classes together except for your double music class today after lunch. That means we can walk together to those classes and I can show you to your music room.” I got it, princess. ‘Princess’ and ‘Bonnie’ were nicknames for Bonnibel that Marceline came up with while staying silent and zoning out most of the time.

Bonnie led the way to their first class that happened to be physics. They were five minutes early so the room was empty with the exception of Simon. Marceline gave a quick wave to him as she sat down at the back of the classroom, Bonnie just in front of her. She hated physics with a passion so she made sure she would sleep for the whole forty minutes, which she did.

Marceline was woken up by the ear-piercing sound of the bell, signalling her next class. Her head hurt because of the fact that she hit her head on the desk in fronts of her when she woke up. Looking up, she found Bonnie looking down at her from where she was standing. “Huh?” Marceline had let out, slightly confused, this caused the blonde to let out a chuckle. “You were asleep, dummy,” she said in a joking manner. Marceline stood up, the desk in front of her had no books on it, she never took them out. She stayed silent as they made their way to history. Bonnibel woke her up for every class except for the last.

The only real good thing about the day was her double music class at the end of the day. The teacher seemed surprised at the amount of instruments she could play and the amount of things she already knew about the theory of it. Other than that, she didn’t need to speak for the rest of the class. Her two classes before lunch, maths and chemistry were okay. Marceline had to introduce herself to the maths class before dozing off like in history and physics, but her new peers in her chemistry class were the same as her physics class and Simon seemed to take care of the introducing while she slept.

Pulling into the drive of her new abode, Marceline let out a huff as Marshall walked off with a big grin on his face, he was always annoyingly cheering despite their family’s situation, she never knew how he could keep it up.

Marceline made her way up to her room the moment she walked through the front door. Simon wasn’t back yet so she pretty much had free will until he came back. That meant loudly playing guitar with the door to her room locked so no one could stop her. This put a grin on her face as she plugged her new ESP into the amplifier she also recently got. _Nothing better than a new Orange amp_.

Music kept her going in life. There was just something about playing and listening to it that made her happy. It was her passion. Before she moved to Maple Hill, Marceline was in a band with her friends and her brother called the Scream Queens. The band was pretty popular amongst their peers and the local music scene with bi-weekly gigs at an underground club and some victories at the annual Battle Of The Bands. That ended though, the moment the Abadeers had announced their move, but the band had broken up on good terms, telling the siblings to call them up if they ever visited again.

She looked at her watch after finishing another song, the songs she played mainly consisting of Neck Deep and Green Day songs. Simon should’ve been home by then so she put away her guitar and went downstairs. There he was in the kitchen, already making dinner. Marceline remembered seeing Simon when she was younger, he was a family friend and always visited around Christmas. _Better than being alone_. But something felt different about the air in the kitchen, she never got the chance to inspect what it was though as Simon noticed her. “Ah, Marceline! How was school?”

“It was okay,” was muttered out as she sat down at the table and saw... Bonnibel Butler right in front of her? “Have you met Bonnibel yet?” Simon asked, seeing the two look at each other. Marceline nodded, suddenly feeling the need to stay silent like earlier. She looked at Simon with a ‘why is she here?’ look on her face. “Bonnibel’s parents work for your father and I figured it’d be nice for you to make a friend while you’re here.” She gave a glare and he went on. “I know you’re not one for friends, but you should give it a try or be civil at least. She’s your guest.” ‘My guest’ my ass. Marceline exhaled an elongated sigh. “Now, go on, you two can go up to your room and I’ll call you for dinner.”

Marceline kicked open the door to her room, Bonnibel beside her. She used her hand to show the other around. “Don’t touch any instruments. You can use the desk for your homework or whatever nerds do in your school.” She heard a huff as she sat down on her bed, attention already back to music. “Just do whatever you need to do and don’t annoy me, we’ll be okay if you stick to that.” Bonnibel gave a nod as she sat at Marceline’s desk. The former found the latter’s voice nice to listen to and wanted her to keep going. Much to her dismay though, Marceline stayed silent after that.

The sound of guitar soon filled the room, the taller of the two playing as she was before. Bonnibel occupied herself, not with homework, but with study. Close enough. The blonde found Marceline’s playing quite relaxing despite how loud it was, but she had always found something like that in every form of music. When the music had seemingly stopped, Bonnibel decided to speak up. “You’re really good, you know.” Marceline gave a small nod of appreciation, still not speaking herself. _Actions speak louder than words or whatever_.

After about a half an hour there was a knock at the door that Bonnibel answered. It was Simon. Marceline had stopped playing to listen to him. Dinner was ready so she hung up her guitar and left the room without speaking, leaving ‘her guest’ behind. It made no difference though as Bonnibel made her way downstairs after Marceline left. The two were quiet during dinner while Simon and Marshall talked.

Marceline and Bonnibel were back up to the former’s room by the time the latter finished her dinner - Marceline wasn’t really hungry anway. A certain someone hindered her appetite. The two stayed quiet again, in the bedroom while Marceline played Mario Kate and Bonnibel continued her study. _What a nerd, fits the image_. She scoffed, the other didn’t notice. 

After a few minutes, the blonde finished her study, books packed away in the pink bag she brought with her. She then sat beside Marceline who glanced her way then continued playing the game. When the race finished, Bonnibel picked up a controller for herself and connected it to the system. “What are you doing?” the raven girl questioned to which Bonnibel answered, “Well, I finished studying and figured you could use some company and competition.”

Marceline sighed as the game went on to the character select menu. “Look, I know Simon told me to be civil and all with you, but I don’t want you here. My life would be better without some nerd trying to play Mario Kart with me.” Bonnibel looked at her with a look of confusion and slight fear. That’ll drive her away. A mutter of ‘okay’ was all she heard as the blonde went back to the desk to do whatever, Marceline didn’t care.

Hours passed before Bonnibel went home, much to Marceline’s relief. She had left just in time for her daily Skype call with Keila, her only real friend from the previous high school she attended, the only person who really stuck by her side. Her laptop rang out a few times before the call was picked up. “Yo,” could be heard from the other side as Marceline gave a friendly wave, showing a fond smile. The two talked about her new life at Maple Hill, mostly about a certain blonde she met there.

The call went on until 11 o’ clock at night. Saying their goodnights, Marceline changed into her pyjamas and got into bed, fishing out Hambo, the teddy bear she owned since she was a baby. He helped her sleep at night, chasing away the nightmares of the day that changed her life. Her mother had died in a car crash and Marceline was in the car at the time. She escaped in critical condition, but her mother was killed instantly. A drunk truck driver was said to be the cause. She never forgot the look of her mother’s limp body in the front seat of her car.

**~August 30th, 2016~**

Marceline woke up with a cold sweat. Her heart was racing and she was practically out of breath, choking back tears. She had a nightmare again even with Hambo tight in her grip. “Damn it, damn it, damn it, I thought I was over that,” was all she could say. She got up and started pacing the room, panic attacks were things she could never deal with alone, but no one would be awake at that time, right? That was something she had to find out.

Walking over to her phone on her desk, she saw a pink sticky note stuck to the screen. Bonnibel. _The nerd must’ve stuck that there when she was here_. On the note was a number, most likely Bonnibel. Removing the note, she unlocked her phone then checked the time. 3:52 a.m. Marceline then dialed the number, sobbing starting, tears flowing down her cheeks.

The person on the other line picked up after four rings. “Hello?” Bonnibel heard no reply, just quiet sobbing. “Marcy- Marceline, are you okay?” She didn’t speak for a moment, trying to ignore the nickname that was obviously used. She wasn’t exactly the ‘let’s use a nickname without barely knowing someone’ type of person unless it was used to identify a person. There was something different about Bonnibel though, like a voice in her head telling her to act like they knew each other for their entire lives like they hadn’t just met less than 24 hours before. “I- I just had a really hard time trying to sleep, could you tell me something to knock me the fuck out?” This shocked the blonde, Marceline didn’t seem like the person to have nightmares and then call someone she didn’t seem to like, so she went through the possibilities of what could’ve led her to call at a time like that. Nonetheless, she didn’t mind trying to help her out. “That kind of language is really distastefu–“ Bonnibel cut herself off, she knew scolding wouldn’t help anything. “Well, before you called, I just finished this really cool experiment on micro-organisms in air and soil.” Marceline chuckled, making Bonnibel glad, yet confused at what was so funny. “What?”

“Nothing, you just proved my point that you’re a giant nerd who wants to do science outside of school.” She heard a huff from Bonnibel coming from the other side. “It’s not my fault I find it extremely interesting.”

“Of course you find it interesting, nerd.” Marceline gave another chuckle, her first proper interaction warmed her heart for some reason. “Anyway, thanks, that was really boring, but boring things help me sleep.” She then hung up, not waiting for an answer. Bonnibel’s name was put in as ‘nerd’ into her phone. A few tears still fell, but she ignored those before setting her phone down and heading back to sleep.

The rest of her night was peaceful.

Four hours later and Marceline was back to her usual self. The remainder of her sleep was interrupted by the loud screeching of the alarm clock by her bed. The mentioned alarm clock ended up thrown across the room when she woke up. After getting dressed, she sauntered out of her room and shouted for Marshall who replied by simply walking out of his own room, following her downstairs.

Once the twins ate breakfast, they were on their way to their second day at Maple Hill High School. Marceline was already sick of it. The day was almost identical to the previous except with more of Bonnibel bugging her to hang out with her and her friends. “No can do, princess,” she’d say, nickname annoying the blonde, “I have better things to attend to.” Those better things consisted of messing around with whatever instruments she could find in the music room.

Other than Bonnibel’s constant bugging, everything was the same up until the history class that she usually slept in. “Get into pairs and I’ll hand these out,” was what woke her up in the first place. Pair up? No can do. “Remember that this assignment is worth 50% of your final grade and if you don’t do a single ounce of work you will immediately fail my class.” That cause Marceline to perk up. She had no idea who to pair with until she saw a beacon of pink hope walk over to her desk with a chair and sit down. “Tha–“ she was cut off.

“No need to thank me, you’re new and clearly haven’t bothered with socialising so I decided to be your partner. In return, I’d like you to try and be my friend.” Bonnibel had a proud smile plastered on her features. Marcline groaned. “Fine, I’ll be your friend, but only outside of school.” She paused. “That doesn’t meant I’ll hang out with your geek squad though.” The smile previously on the other’s face quickly turned into a frown, but she nodded, agreeing to the musician’s terms. 

After history, Marceline headed straight for her car. Marshall was already there, but he was with someone else and they were sitting in the passenger seat. She allowed herself a small growl before getting into the car. She turned to Marshall without looking at the other person. Her tone was angry. “What did I tell you about bringing your little ‘girlfriends’ home without telling me?” Marshall’s hands were already raised in defence. “Chill, ‘Marcy’–“ He stopped talking when Marceline turned away from him to look at the other person, she recognised the nickname from the previous night, the fact that no one else had ever used a nickname for her before made it easier. “Princes– Bonnibel?” Bonnibel offered a small smile with an accompanying wave. Marceline couldn’t help but smile back as she revved up the car’s engine, soon pulling out of the parking space to make her way home. She wondered how Bonnibel got there before her.

The drive back was relatively quiet minus the CD player that was blasting Marceline’s music. That was until Bonnibel told her to turn it down, of course, since it was too loud and ‘distasteful’ for her. This almost caused a full-blown argument, but the blonde somehow managed to calm Marceline down, but the music stayed at the raven-haired girl’s preferred volume.

Back at the Petrikov/Abadeer household, the girls made their way up to Marceline’s room where they almost copied the previous day’s actions with the exception of Marceline playing her axe bass instead of her ESP guitar. The made Bonnibel more interested than the last day she was there. Axe basses weren’t things she would see every day.

When Marceline stopped playing her first thing, she found the aspiring scientist sitting on the bed beside her, staring at the instrument in her arms. “Um... can I help you?”

“You have an axe bass...I’ve never seen one of those before.” The musician raised an eyebrow, before chuckling. “This is just something I made since I couldn’t afford a branded one unless you count the brand as Abadeer Guitars.” If Bonnibel wasn’t impressed already, she certainly was hearing that Marceline made her own bass guitar. All she could do was stare “If you think this is impressive then you should see the Gene Simmons ones, they’re hella cool.”

One word in that sentence seemed to break Bonnibel out of her trance. “Wait, hold on ‘hella’?” Marceline nodded, causing the blonde to chuckle which then evolved into full-on laughter. The other was confused until Bonnibel went on. “Who says ‘hella’ anymore?” 

“Actually, a lot of people from California do,” Marceline stated, earning another chuckle from the girl beside her. “What? It’s true.” Bonnibel scoffed playfully, rolling her eyes as well.

“Whatever you say.” She then went back to her study at Marceline’s desk, trying not to comment on how Marceline didn’t seem to want to bite her head off because as much as she didn’t show it, part of Bonnibel knew she actually wanted her there. It was a people skill she’d learned over the years. 

Bonnibel left right after dinner that day which made Marceline glad that she had the rest of the evening to herself, but it left her feeling oddly lonely. She shook it off anyway.

By the time Keila had called, she had to force a smile with how drained she was from so much socialising that day. It was clear she had noticed, but didn’t press on the issue. The week already felt like a whole year and Marceline really wasn’t ready for Wednesday. Everything felt like it was going too fast, especially with Bonnibel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, it’s your local meme. I decided to write this and add to the amount of Bubbline fanfics already out there.  
> This is my first story that I plan on updating whenever I can. Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter!


	2. Dirty Laundry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I don't care about what you did  
> Only care about what we do  
> Dirty laundry looks good on you" - All Time Low

**~August 31st, 2016~**

Marceline was late to school. Thanks to the alarm incident that occurred the day before, there was no annoying screeching sound to wake her up and her brother was already gone. It was around 11:36 when she actually woke up.

 _Little shit didn’t wake me up_ , was thought as she dragged her bag across the ground on her way to her car. It wasn’t like it mattered anyway, she’d been late many times throughout her entire school history, it’s not like one time being late in a new school mattered.

Or so she thought.

Marceline ended up with a detention for being somehow three hours late. She had missed English lit, physics and maths. It was nothing new, but some teachers already knew her name and not in a positive way like they did a certain blonde.

Being abruptly woken up from a nap was never a nice thing. The musician thought it was the end of class when something hit her head during chemistry, a scrunched up ball of paper that she didn’t bother to read. When she looked up she could see Bonnibel waving at her from in front of the teacher’s desk. She glared back though, causing her to turn around, attention going back to the assigned work, whatever that was.

The bell rang a few minutes after Marceline went back to her nap. _Can’t I just nap in peace?_ It was time for detention. _Not like I have something else to be doing during lunch._

She sauntered into the almost empty classroom. At the top of the class was the teacher on his phone. At the bottom left was a blonde boy wearing a bear hat who looked terrified for his life. It made her want to laugh, but she held back. _Bet the nerd’s never been in detention before_.

Looking to the teacher, he pointed to the desk in front of him and Marceline sat down, shooting the teacher a glare even if he wasn’t paying attention. She decided it was time to write in her journal which was something she’d do daily. When she wasn’t updating the book on previous events, she was probably writing songs or just doodling. That period, it was song writing.

About halfway through, she felt something hit her back. _This again?_ She turned around to pick up the paper this time. She read the note once it was opened up enough to be eligible. ‘Are you friends with Bonnibel Butler?’ Marceline’s eyes widened slightly as she read it. Bonnibel talked about her? That was never a good thing.

Keeping up the tough shtick, she turned around to give the blonde a glare. He happened to shrink down in his seat once he saw her face. Mission ‘scare people off’ successful. She went back to her journal. 

Marceline was chewing on her pen by the time the bell rang to signal the end of her period-long detention that took up her free time. She shot up from the seat after she was finished packing up her notebook and pencil case. The boy at the back of the class appeared to stay in the room instead of leaving. At least it ensured that they wouldn’t talk outside of the class. Not like it concerned her anyway.

Her next class was music, her favourite class. The reason for it was because she never had to speak since the teacher knew she knew everything that was on the syllabus since it was really only basic music theory with some composing and dictation, all things that Marceline aced in her past schools. That and seeing as she knew everything, the teacher let her sleep. Her alarm was in the form of the school bell like always.

Outside in the corridor, she was met with another blonde. Bonnibel. She noticed that the aspiring scientist was wearing less pink that day, but the lack of pink was replaced by shades of purple instead. Bonnibel gave a wave, smiling as well. “How was detention?” Marceline was about to respond, but had to ask something first as they made their way to history. “How’d you know I had one and how’d you know I just had music?”

“I’m the student council president, I kind of have to know these things. It’s also why I’m walking around with you this week. And I knew you had music because I checked your timetable on Monday” The musician raised a brow.

“I thought you wanted to be my friend and not someone who’s following me around because it’s their job.” This amused Bonnibel. She thought Marceline didn’t care about the whole friend thing. “Okay, first of all, I do want to be your friend. Second of all, I thought you were too ‘punk rock’ to care about others.” Marceline let out a chuckle.

“If that’s supposed to be an insult then you’re going to have to try harder than that, princess.” Bonnibel showed an annoyed expression at the nickname, but Marceline thought it was more fitting than ever after learning her status as the student council president. “Don’t call me that, you stoner,” she shot back, trying her hardest to glare. It ended up as an unsuccessful attempt. “Hey!” Marceline faked offence, “I only smoke pot from time to time.” That meant almost every day. “It’s not like I’m actually addicted or anything.” The blonde only got more annoyed at the second use of the ‘princess’ nickname.

The two were entering the history room. Their journey to said room was full of Bonnibel trying to come up with nicknames that would somehow offend Marceline. It was only when the two sat down, that she seemed to cross the line. “—you good for nothing asshole.” She was showing a proud smile, but Marceline showed a face that was mixed with annoyance and anger. The look was completed with a death glare. 

She had heard those words before; ‘good for nothing’. The words came from her own father’s mouth when she failed the majority of her winter exams during her freshman year of high school. That was the start of Marceline not giving a shit about her grades. It was odd since her father had called her all of the other names that Bonnibel happened to come up with before, there just happened to be something about the last one that got to her.

“Fuck you,” her voice was cold. “Call me that again and the only part of me you’ll see will be my fist when it breaks your nose.” Bonnibel’s expression shifted to one of fear as she listened to the other. She didn’t know that Marceline was mostly bark and no bite. “Forget about being friends.”

They were already sitting beside each other by the time the raven-haired girl had said her last words. She really wished she could’ve moved, but the teacher was already staring in her direction as others got themselves organised.

Marceline the class period to write songs as there was nothing else to do and she wasn’t exactly tired. Throughout the class she heard Bonnibel talking about her, not even trying to be quiet. She was talking to another blonde and a brunette about how ‘aggressive’ Marceline was and how she ‘needed to get a grip on life’. _They know nothing about me, they can’t say anything_. But of course, it bothered her in a way she didn’t like to admit. She actually wanted to be friends with Bonnibel up until that point. _It was just a joke_ she tried to tell herself. It didn’t work though. Her brain told her it was detestation that made the blonde say that, not anything else.

When the musician recognised that her mother was dead those ten years ago, her personality took a complete 180. She changed from this young girl who was always happy and outgoing, always ready for the challenges of everyday life to this girl who matured too fast. By then, she never wanted to get out of bed in the morning. Everything seemed to be in black and white, every situation and even the look of everything around her like the colour of things just drain away the second she heard those four words.

“Your mother, she’s dead.”

The voice wasn’t even sympathetic, it was cold and coming from her father’s mouth. Everything was a downward spiral from there as Hunson focused more on his work than his children. It was also the start of the Abadeer family moving to different places around the country. So many states and so many towns, yet they never went back to their hometown of North Bridge, Illinois. Marceline barely remembered the place.

Throughout the years, she felt more and more alone until one day that pretty much changed her life. Her first boyfriend, Ash, had found her hanging out in the local junkyard of some town she soon forgot about. Being the naïve fifteen year-old she was, she ‘fell in love’ with the boy. It started off slow, only being friends at first, but a few weeks in and they were already hooking up.

He introduced her to the world of letting go and taught her how to forget about life through alcohol and weed. It started with one joint, then soon escalated to way more than one. Then alcohol was brought in. Sometimes Marceline would totally blackout, but she found that it helped her with the pain that she tended to feel late at night. Every morning that she woke up, she felt that same pain again, so she drank and smoked more. It was a vicious cycle. Marshall always wondered how she was still alive, but was glad that she was.

Her and Ash’s relationship got louder and louder as the months went on, eventually ending up violent at one point. He would always get angry at her for never being in the mood for sex, sometimes slapping her when she would express her disinterest. Ash decided it would be best if he would try to force it on Marceline one night and ended up with a broken nose and arm. That was when their connection with each other was completely cut off.

She was alone again, this time with the addition of trust issues. Not like her low self-esteem was enough or anything. Yet with all of this shit, she also had an extreme abandonment issues that stemmed from her mother’s death. Marceline eventually found that it was better to be alone since she had no one to doubt, deal with the fact that she really disliked herself or leave her in the first place. At the same time, she found her passion to be music. She always liked music before - her mother taught her the piano - but when she was alone she found it a substitute for human interaction. Until she met Keila at least.

Keila was the type of person that Marceline thought she’d never be friends with. She seemed too cool to talk to and rarely showed up to school in the first place. The two met during an after-school detention in the third high school Marceline attended after Keila was caught skipping school and Marceline was caught tagging the shit out of the bathrooms. At first, the raven-haired girl had no intention of talking at all, but when the teacher never showed up, Keila saw it as the perfect opportunity to skip and she happened to drag Marceline along with her.  
They ended up in detention after that incident, but they deemed it well worth the journey. Keila and Marceline were the school’s troublemakers and practically lived in the school’s detention room. They never cared though.

At one point, Marceline had met the rest of Keila’s friends, Guy and Bongo. One thing then led to another and they were all in a band called the Scream Queens. Marshall joined in of course.

The band broke up when the Abadeer twins moved though, yet it was always active in everyone’s hearts. The only reason for this was that they had gotten quite popular with people in the area, even earning some fans from the town over. A big achievement for some high school kids. No one could deny it.

Thinking of that simpler time known as her sophomore year of high school made her miss it even more as she spaced out in class. Missing it was almost…melancholic. It made her want to just leave Maple Hill and go back to the place that made her happy. But no that would never happen, would it? Marceline was stuck in a town that didn’t want her. The one person she wanted to talk to already hated her.

Her thoughts were cut off by the school bell that signalled the end of the school day. _I’m finally out of this hell hole for the rest of the day_. Marceline shot out of her seat and packed up what little supplies she had gotten out of her bag at the start of class. Not like she did any work anyway and that stupid history project she had to do with Bonnibel was something she definitely wasn’t doing what happened before class started.

Marceline rushed to her car the second she was finished at her locker. She wanted to avoid speaking to anyone on her way there even though no one really talked to her anyway. In her car she tried controlling her breathing as her mind threw her into a state of panic. The whole situation with Bonnibel was getting to her head again. _She hates you_ was all her thoughts could repeat. Nothing else.

Marshall hopped into the passenger’s side of the car around five minutes later and was met with Marceline with her head down on the steering wheel. She was muttering something about being a ‘good for nothing asshole.’ When she noticed he was there, she simply lifted her head and started the car.

No words were exchanged on the car ride back and Marceline’s usual music wasn’t on. It was completely silent. She preferred it that way. During their journey, Marshall ended up connecting the dots with Marceline’s muttering. He didn’t mention it though.

Back at home, Marshall made his way into the kitchen while his sister immediately ran up to her room. While there, she put her earphones in to block out the world, no disturbances, no one else, not even her own thoughts, just the music that filled her ears as she lay down on her bed. It started with soft guitar until singing began, though she recognised the song already.

_‘Goodbye to my Santa Monica dream.’_

The song reminded her of how she always wanted to move anywhere but the places her and her family had moved. Keila had introduced her to the song when they hung out once. She had began playing and Marceline just happened to like it. In that moment they promised to travel the world with each other one day. When they ran away together. “Forget this place,” Marceline would say. “Forget the band. Forget everything. It can just be us together on the open road.”

But Keila was always hesitant for reasons unknown. She would talk about running away with Marceline, but would always say that they would do it when they were old enough and not when they were ready like the taller of the two had always hoped. It caused conflict between them. Marceline would say that Keila never actually wanted to run away and just pitied her. The argument back was always ‘no, no, I really want to.’ That was it though. No explanation or anything else. This continued until the Abadeers moved and the two promised to Skype each other every evening.

Their friendship was never perfect, but they got by with the band and pulling pranks in school. It somehow survived for over a year. Marceline always wondered how they managed to deal with each other for that long. She was thankful for Keila either way.

_’Fifteen kids in the backyard drinki-‘_

She couldn’t hear the song anymore as her earphones were pulled from her ears. The musician sat up to confront whoever happened to be by her bed. “Hey! What the hell?” There stood Simon. He looked angry “Oh, heyyyy.”

“Marceline Abadeer, what were you doing, landing yourself in detention on your third day here?” Marceline wasn’t looking at him though, she was looking at the person standing in the doorway. “Are you listening to me?”

“What is _she_ doing here?” The person she happened to be referring to was Bonnibel, the girl who already hated her even though she was new, even though she tried her hardest. “I was going to ground you,” Simon replied, “but I remembered that you actually like staying in your room, so as punishment for getting a detention, I’m going to ask you to have Bonnibel here over as a guest for the next week after school.”

She couldn’t believe was she was hearing. “But she hates me!” But Simon was already gone. There stood Bonnibel, too afraid to take a step. Marceline looked in her direction with a cold glare. They didn’t make eye contact as she spoke. “Sit down at the desk. No words, just do what you have to do.” That time Bonnibel did as she was told compared to the first time she was there.

No other words were exchanged that night as Marceline continued to listen to music and the blonde did whatever homework she was assigned that day. During dinner the two twins spoke to each other about school for once instead of arguing over simple things. Wednesday was their game night, so the two liked to be kind to each other before someone got annihilated in a fast and usually loud game of Mario Kart.

Marceline won again that week. Sure, she didn’t win by fair means, but she won anyway. Her method was to throw Marshall’s controller across the room and when he got back, hit him with a pillow until she crossed the finish line. This was usually done sometime during the third lap when the two were in the top three or any time Marshall was ahead of her.

The male twin used to call cheating, but gave up after years of the same method. He somehow never found a way to counter it. Not like he ever won to her when no cheating was involved anyway.

Through all of this, Bonnibel sat in the kitchen with Simon preparing tea for her, talking about whatever came to mind. The twins came up at one point, so the blonde took it as the chance to ask what was on her mind since she was in Marceline’s room. “Why does Marceline think I hate her?” Simon let out a chuckle.

“Be careful around Marceline, Bonnibel, she’s gone through a lot of rough patches in her life. Marshall and her lost their mother in a car crash when they were seven. A truck ran a red light. The only difference was that Marceline was in the car when it happened. They said it was a miracle that she survived.” The aspiring scientist’s brain was short circuiting at that point. She never heard about their mother before when she thought about it. “Marshall mostly stayed the same, but Marceline changed. Most of the time it took hard work to get out of bed in the morning.”

“What about Mr. Abadeer?” was all Bonnibel could ask at that point.

“The twins never really had a good relationship with Hunson since the accident. He was more focus on his work since then, always left the kids with a family friend instead of looking after them himself. Eventually, his expectations for the two were raised. He wants them to work on his company when he gets too old for it, so he wants perfect children with perfect grades.” The blonde just listened on, wishing she knew all of this before. “When he knew he couldn’t get that, his connection to his own children was cut almost completely.” Simon sighed, sitting down and setting down Bonnibel’s tea in front of her.

“Marshall told me that someone called Marceline something along the lines of ‘good for nothing asshole’.” Bonnibel almost choked on her tea then. She had called Marceline that. “Their father called then good for nothing, you know. It’s pretty terrible. I’m honestly glad I got the chance to look after them.” His gaze when out of the open door and into the living room where the twins were still playing the Wii. The blonde allowed herself a smile when she saw where Simon was looking to even though she was freaking out in her mind.

Minutes later, Bonnibel had finished her tea and was getting ready to go. After saying her goodbyes to Simon, she made her way out into the living room, passing the twins on the way. Marceline had Marshall in a headlock, but the two were laughing. It was a sight that made Bonnibel happy herself. And the way Marceline was smiling was a smile that she hoped to cause as a friend of hers one day. 

Her first step to making Marceline smile was apologising to her though. Bonnibel was determined. She didn’t like when things didn’t go her way, especially when it came to others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heylo there.  
> Have some more of this fanfiction.  
> Hope you guys had a nice holiday.  
> Have a nice New Year while you're at it.


	3. The Halocline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I scream your name  
> As blood bursts from my veins
> 
> I'm calling out  
> To the walking dead." - Hippo Campus
> 
> TW: Implied rape.  
>  Implied self-harm.

**September 2nd, 2016**

The rest of the week felt off to Marceline for some reason, there was something missing. It wasn’t food, her appetite was fine and entertainment was the same. Maybe it was the human interaction she barely liked, she didn’t know.

Her and Bonnibel still weren’t on speaking terms after Wednesday, but it was fine, the blonde fucked up and she knew it. The musician didn’t expect an apology from someone seemingly so high up the social ladder. Not like it bothered her or anything, she just felt a little bit lonely without her. She had Marshall anyway. Kind of.

The twins did argue quite a bit, but it was how they communicated. When one of them felt like shit though, the other would hop on it like they never argued in their entire life. Either that or they somehow knew when to give the other some space. It was the magic of twins really. They didn’t have the whole telepathy thing though. Marshall always said it would’ve been cool if they did. Marceline agreed and wondered if only identical twins had it.

At school that Friday, Marceline hung around Marshall and the two friends he made that week. They were a bunch of nerds like Bonnibel. That wasn’t mentioned. At least she had people to talk to.

“Hey, we’re throwing a party tomorrow, it’d be cool if you two could come,” said the tall, hairy guy who happened to be called Jake. He was with his brother, Finn, the small blonde who was in detention with her on Wednesday. He was the shortest and youngest one at the table, but his older brother made sure he was included. Jake on the other hand, was a few inches taller than the twins and about a year older. The siblings looked at each other before nodding and speaking in unison. “Only if there’s beer.” This caused Finn to perk up. At least he didn’t think that Marceline was scary anymore.

“Wow, you two basically read each other’s mind. It’s like twin magic.” At this, Marshall smiled, but Marceline let out a chuckle. “I don’t think that’s how it works, we just have the same thoughts about a lot of things like music and parties.”

“If you say so,” the blonde shrugged, “but I’ll be studying you two from now on to see if twins having magical powers is true or not.” The two nodded, giving their okay. It was at the same time though, so Finn ended up looking suspiciously at them.

Jake spoke on about the party. “It starts at eight and ends when everyone either leaves or blacks out, we’ll have to wait and see.”

“We’ll be there,” was all Marceline said back.

Halfway through, lunch the boy started spacing out, staring behind the twins at something they were too busy to notice because of their conversation. Jake noticed eventually, following his gaze then grinning mischievously down at his brother. “That your girlfriend?” Finn immediately responded, blushing and trying – failing – to hide it.

Marceline turned around to see whoever it was Jake could’ve been talking about while he talked about how he _didn’t_ like anyone. _He’s clearly lying, anyone could see that he likes- wait, princess?_ She let out a scoff, rolling her eyes in the process. _Of course he likes her, who wouldn’t? Well, I don’t, but, y’know._. That was when she sighed and turned her attention back to the others.

“He obviously likes her.” Finn turned even more red at Marceline’s comment. “I don’t see what the problem here is, you should just ask her out.” That was when things changed. “Just wait here.” The musician got up from where she was sitting despite the amount of protest she received. There was inner protest present too, but she had nothing to lose since they were forced to hang out with each other anyway.

She felt like she had to talk to the student council president after the radio silence between them for the past couple of days. It wasn’t even a personal chat, but it was a step. Plus, Marceline couldn’t sit back and watch her friend suffer.

The talk with Bonnibel was short, but went well with no arguing. It was good since short was the only kind of conversation Marceline could handle with her at the moment.

The poor boy saw the musician give a wink. Thing weren’t looking so well for him.

She came back a couple of minutes later with a seemingly victorious look on her face. “I got good news and bad news for you, Finn, which one would you like to hear first.” The blonde sighed.

“I’ll take the bad news first.” Marceline chuckled.

“Princess over there is gay, so she wouldn’t be into you no matter how hard you tried.”

The brothers seemed confused, but Marshall knew what was up. Finn asked about the good news. “Princess is gay, which means that you never had a chance with her in the first place.” This confused the two even more as the twins exchanged a knowing glance.

The rest of the school day felt awkward. Marceline and Bonnibel actually talked to each other in their history class, but only about the topic at hand. It was their project so they kind of had to talk to pass the class. Bonnibel choose to cover the American Revolution, but the musician wanted to cover women in American history and refused to help out for most of the class.

During this protest, Marceline used her time to peruse the internet for facts on the area she wanted to cover, hoping that the information collected would convince the student council president to change her mind. It didn’t work, but she was ready to try when Monday came.

After school, Marceline found Bonnibel by herself in the passenger seat of her car. Sighing, she hopped in beside her. Being around her would always happen by the end of the day. If it didn’t happen, some force between them would find a way to push them together.

While waiting for Marshall, it was the blonde who started speaking.

“So, speaking to me again, are we?”

Marceline didn’t dare make eye contact as her gaze stayed on the steering wheel, but she gave a mutter in reply. “I guess.”

She never was great at giving the silent treatment, even if it was to the person who happened to call her one of the worst things a person has ever called her. Either way, Bonnibel sent a smile in the direction of the raven-haired girl and the blonde swore she saw a small smile sent back her way.

Marshall hopped in a moment after that small exchange and Marceline went back to filling the car with her ‘distasteful’ music. It was just noise to the aspiring scientist anyway.

Back at home, the two followed the same routine as the past week, though this time felt less scornful. 

In Marceline’s room, the two sat on the bed. Bonnibel was ‘studying or whatever’ and Marceline was playing some first-person shooter on her PlayStation 4. When she heard books closing, she turned to the blonde who looked like she had a speech prepared in her brain.

“I want to say that I’m sorry. We were having a nice time before I messed it up.” Marceline gave a nod instead of speaking, she wanted to hear more.

“I didn’t know about your dad, you know? I couldn’t have known really, we still barely know each other.” The musician gave another nod. “But I guess even if we don’t know each other that much…yet…I hope you can let me back in and we can continue to get to know each other until we know almost everything there is to know.” Bonnibel then let out the breath she didn’t notice she’d been holding in.

Marceline just blinked at the other, she wasn’t expecting that. “I appreciate it, I guess. And yeah, you couldn’t have known about my dad, so apology accepted.” The pale girl was known for her ‘outbursts’ in her previous schools and they weren’t exactly an abnormal thing in her life, but when they happened she just let them happen, never really feeling the need to apologise for them. There was something different here though. Everything felt different with Bonnibel and she hated it.

“I’m sorry for what I said back then, I don’t really remember what I said since I pretty much go into autopilot when I’m mad, but I know it wasn’t good, so sorry.” The blonde smiled as she scooted over to the side of the bed that Marceline was on.

“Nothing to worry about, Marcy, I understand why you reacted like that.” The student council president laid a hand on Marceline’s back. She flinched in response at the touch, but soon relaxed.

“By the way, I really liked you faked being gay to get Finn off of your case,” she let out a chuckled in remembrance. Bonnibel raised a brow.

“You think I faked being gay?” Marceline stopped her chuckling right there. “Marceline, I’m the least straight person in the school. That is, unless you want to share the title with me.”

“How did you-“

“Oh, c’mon, I have eyes you know. You know what you’re like when we get changed for PE. It’s quite entertaining sometimes.” The musician then started laughing, raising her hands in defence.

“Caught red handed. And for your information, I’m pan, everyone gets love from me.” Of course, Ash was excluded from ‘everyone’, but Marceline decided that it wasn’t the best time to mention that. Bonnibel nodded, she’d heard of pansexuality before, but never really did her research on it. But now a friend being pan gave her a reason to. Well…

The blonde looked to Marceline. “We’re friends, right?”

The other shrugged. “Not exactly, but I’m sure we’ll get there.”

Bonnibel began her research once Marceline went back to her game. She found it very interesting about how being sexually attracted to multiple genders worked even if there wasn’t a clear answer to it. The information was pocketed so she could whip it out whenever it was needed.

What the student council president didn’t notice was that Marceline’s hand was practically attached to her left wrist all throughout their conversation. The musician did this when she was nervous, usually snapping the rubber band that she happened to be wearing against her skin. It was certainly better than a knife cutting her arm, but it didn’t help that the rubber band sometimes drew blood when it was done too much. If someone were to look at her wrist it would certainly be red.

At the dinner table, the twins included Bonnibel in their conversation, having friendly debates on topics like school, music and society as a whole. Marshall was usually left to fend for himself while the other two agreed on most things except for music. It was clear that Bonnibel preferred her quieter indie music to the sounds of pop punk with heavy guitar riffs. Marceline was at least grateful she didn’t like what was mainly played on the radio.

Their conversation about what music genre is the best was cut off by Simon when he walked back from a phone call he was having in the sitting room. “Bonnibel, dear?” This gained the attention of everyone at the table. “Your parents said they’re working late and would like you to stay here if that’s okay with you. I’m sure Marceline here wouldn’t mind giving you some pyjamas to wear.”

The girl in question just shrugged while taking a sip of coffee when Bonnibel turned to her. “Go ahead if you don’t mind a blanket hog.” The blonde just gave her a smile before looking back up to the teacher.

“Sure, I don’t mind, I’m fine with fighting with a sleeping girl for a blanket.” She chuckled at her own statement before Marceline spoke up.

“Oh, hey, is it okay if Marshall and I go to a party tomorrow? We’ll be safe.” Simon looked between the two, knowing full well what they could get up to at parties. He then looked at Bonnibel.

“I’ll be there too, don’t worry.”

He then gave the nod of approval. “I’ll let you guys go since it’s your first party at your new high school.” The twins grinned at each other. “You didn’t let me finish. Only if you come back before midnight.” They nodded up at him, obviously planning to ignore that order. It could probably be avoided if they stayed away from Bonnibel and didn’t get _too_ wasted. A thing quite hard for Marshall, but something Marceline knew how to do all too well. She could hold her beer.

Being in the same bed as Bonnibel felt nothing like she thought it would be like. The tall girl initially thought it would be extremely awkward for both of them, but it just felt awkward for her in the end. 

The blonde was too short for Marceline’s clothes. It didn’t bother anyone in a bad way, the musician just thought it looked cute. It was a plus that the other was finally wearing something that wasn’t pink. Not that she thought that wearing an excessive amount of pink was bad or anything, it was just nice to see something that wasn’t pink on her.

Sometimes it felt like Bonnibel would show up with bright pink hair and a face covered in pink paint, though that would probably look cute too. The raven-haired girl shook her head as she looked over to the sleeping ‘princess’. _She needs to stop being cute and I need to stop looking at her_.

Marceline slowly drifted off to sleep after turning her back to the blonde and digging out Hambo. Maybe she’d get used to the other in her bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**??????**

_Someone was standing over her. It was a male figure. He was reaching out. As he bent down, she could see the anger in his eyes. That stupid haircut. The messy room they were in. She was being pinned down to the bed she hadn’t noticed she was sitting down on. Her mind screamed out, but no sound was made. Closer. Closer. A pain coursed through her body as her innocence was ripped away from her. She reached out to stop him._

_Her body flung forward. It was flung back as she was knocked back, now lying down. All she could see was red. The sound of sirens and shouting could be heard. It sounded distance, but it was definitely close. It seemed like she was in the back of a car. She was bleeding. She slowly opened her eyes only to see a dead body in the driver’s seat._

_White flashed before her eyes._

_**”Marceline!”** _

_The car collided with another. The other driver was drunk. The first crash wasn’t the one that ended a life that night. But it was when they ended up crashing into the wall of the tunnel they were in in an attempt to reduce damage, a child lost her mother forever._

“Mom!”

Marceline screamed out, quickly sitting up. Tears streamed down her face as she buried it in her hand, the sobbing starting. Hambo was on the floor, the musician had thrown him there in her sleep. He appeared to be looking up at the girl with a sympathetic face that was really the result of owning a teddy bear since birth.

Bonnibel had woken up with the noise. She gave the sympathetic look of not a worn teddy bear, but of someone who was genuinely worried. The blonde wrapped an arm around the taller girl who flinched from the touch, but didn’t push her away. Marceline kept her face in her hands.

“I…my mom,” was all she could get out, but the blonde hushed her, allowing the silence to be an attempt at comfort. It seemed to be working though, Marceline’s sobs quietening the longer the two stayed like that. It was comfortable silence. It reminded her of when her mother would do just the same as Bonnibel did that night.

**September 3rd, 2016**

The musician almost didn’t remember what happened during the previous night until she looked down and saw arms wrapped around her. Bonnibel was still asleep beside her, looking peaceful while she slept. _Was she always this cute? Oh right, she was_.

Marceline coughed, but the blonde didn’t wake up. She did move away from the other, allowing freedom in the bed. The taller of the two got up to get dressed. Instead of getting dressed right there, she grabbed whatever clothes she could find and practically ran into the bathroom across the hall.

There was nothing wrong with getting changed in front of Bonnibel, she did it for PE every week, kind of. Marceline usually wore part of her PE gear under her regular clothes in the morning so get changed quickly and tried ducking into a bathroom stall after PE. She usually tried to hide from the student council president anyway.

Walking back into her room, she saw that Bonnibel was awake. “Mornin’ princess, how was your beauty sleep?” The girl in question showed annoyance at the nickname, but was clearly too tired to comment on it or fight back. She knew what happened if she ever fought back too and didn’t want that to happen. “It was okay. I’m surprised we didn’t fight in our sleep for the duvet like you said we would.” Marceline shrugged. Bonnibel went on. “I think you just liked me holding you and sleeping you wanted to keep me warm so you let me have it.”

The only thing Marceline could do as she sat beside the blonde was give a grin. “You got me. I do like taking care of cute princesses.” Bonnibel crossed her arms, hearing herself get called ‘princess’ again. She puffed out her cheeks with a frown, but a slight blush appeared on her cheeks in response to being called cute.

The raven-haired girl chuckled. Bonnibel spoke once again. “My sleep may have been okay, but was yours? It’s going to be a busy day today.”

That’s right. Jake and Finn were throwing a party that day and the twins and Bonnibel were going. Marceline’s first party in her fourth high school. It was like a right of passage into a new high school. The place were people get drunk or high. Parties were like a moving second home to Marceline, but she was never ready for them. Sure, she may have always been physically ready, knowing how to hold her alcohol and knowing how to dance if it was ever forced upon her. But she was never mentally ready. Parties meant other people and other people usually meant talking to them. That wasn’t what she liked to go to parties for.

She’d have to wait and see though, prepping herself as much as possible until then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heylo.  
> I wrote some more trash.  
> Hope you had fun reading it.  
> I don't blame you if you didn't though.  
> I'm sleep deprived.


End file.
